Norsk versjon - Søke om kompetanseopprykk

Are you considering applying for a promotion within your career track? Or are you considering applying for a transition between career tracks? Here you will find information and application forms for these schemes at NTNU.

Apply for promotion / transfer

About promotion and transition between career tracks

Academic staff at NTNU can apply for an academic competence assessment for promotion to a higher position level. Such academic promotions are personal and linked to the individual employee's field of expertise. It does not entitle you to changed work tasks. At NTNU, it is also possible to apply for a transition between the professor and the “dosent” career tracks at the same position level. The same qualification requirements and application deadlines apply for promotion and transfer.

Who can apply?

If you have not been assessed for teaching and research positions at NTNU within the last two years, you can apply to have your competence assessed by an expert committee. If a position at a higher level in the same subject area/specialty has been advertised at NTNU during the last two years, you can only apply for promotion two years after the application deadline for the announcement. This also applies if you have applied and then withdrawn your application.

The previous requirement of at least 50 per cent permanent position in order to apply for promotion has been abolished, but you must have at least one year left of the employment in order to apply for promotion/transfer in the professor and “dosent” career tracks. Researcher 1108 must have at least two years left and senior researcher 1109 at least three years left of their employment in order to apply for promotion.

Leave of absence from a position does not prevent you from applying for promotion. The right to apply for promotion does not apply to fixed-term employees on tenure-track terms or employees in adjunct positions on a fixed-term basis (up to 20% position).

How to apply

You can only apply for promotion/transfer at your own Faculty and within the subject area you are employed. Consideration must be given to the development of the subject area of the position from the original job description until the time of application. You will be assessed on the basis of your documented competence in relation to the qualification requirements of the position. An application for promotion to professor/”dosent”/top-level researcher 1183 should be submitted in English out of consideration for the international member of the expert committee.

Applications are submitted via the application form on this page. (Exception for the IV faculty: Applicants for promotion to professor must use an IV-specific form. See further info under Faculty Guidelines.)

Apply for competence promotion

The faculties generally accept ongoing applications with two exceptions. For promotion to professor at HF, IE, IV and NV, the deadline is 15 September. The deadline for top-level researcher is 1 May. For further details, check Faculty guidelines and contact persons at the bottom of this website.

Eligibility requirements for applications for promotion/transfer at NTNU

For applications for promotion, the qualification requirements in NTNU's guidelines for academic positions apply. Please note that all qualification requirements for the position, including NTNU's requirements for educational competence, NTNU's additional requirements for professor/docent/senior researcher, as well as national regulatory requirements for Norwegian language competence must be met when applying for promotion/transfer.

• In NTNU's guideline chapter 3, you will find the qualification requirements that apply to the respective positions. NTNU's competence matrix (NTNU's version of UHR NOR-CAM) provides useful suggestions on competence that may be relevant, and how you can document and reflect on your own competence. See also NTNU's guide to experts on responsible assessment of research (incl. artistic/professional development work).
• In NTNU's guideline chapter 4 you will find the requirements for educational competence / museum communication competence. The competence is documented in a pedagogical portfolio: Documentation of educational competence.

NTNU's guidelines are based on:

• Regulations to the Universities and University Colleges Act (Universitets- og høyskoleloven - Lovdata (Norwegian only)
• Promotion to research positions is regulated in the Norwegian Civil Service Handbook from the Ministry of Digitalisation and Public Administration (Chapter 5.7 of the 2025 edition).

Here is a simplified presentation of NTNU's qualification requirements in the three career tracks and relevant areas of competence in NTNU's competence matrix

Documentation and attachments

Along with the application form, you must attach documentation of your academic and educational competence, as well as other documentation. It is recommended to inform the expert committee about which guidelines/guidelines and possible competence matrix the applicant has used in the preparation of the application.

• CV and complete list of scientific/artistic/academic development work and where these have been published
• Documentation of formal competence such as
  • o higher education diplomas
  • documentation of a doctoral degree obtained
  • documentation of relevant professional experience
  • documentation of Norwegian (possibly Swedish/Danish) language competence (see NTNU's guidelines Chapter 3.10 with footnotes in the pdf version)
• Documentation of academic competence (research/artistic work/academic development work)
  • 5 to 15 works depending on academic tradition, career track and position level
  • A scientific portfolio (memo of 3-10 pages) in which you reflect on your most important academic work and contributions to academic processes, your own professional development, the quality and impact of the work. For promotion to professor/”dosent”/top-level researcher, you must also mention your most important contributions to applied knowledge and/or academic leadership and roles of trust (cf. NTNU's additional requirements). See examples of documentation and reflection in NTNU's competence matrix or relevant subject-specific competence matrix.
• Documentation of educational competence. The competence is documented in a pedagogical portfolio with a reflection part and a documentation part. See NTNU's requirements for documentation of educational competence and examples of documentation and reflection in NTNU's competence matrix.
• Documentation of applied knowledge (dissemination, innovation and interaction) and/or academic leadership and positions that are an additional requirement for professor/"dosent"/top-level researcher at NTNU.
• Other relevant documentation

NTNU has signed the DORA declaration and is a member of CoARA. The expert committees are expected to follow the principles of responsible assessment of research and recognition of a wider range of academic contributions in accordance with the university's social mission. See NTNU's guidelines for experts on responsible assessment of research.

Expert assessment

Your application will be assessed by an expert committee appointed by the Head of Department.

The expert committee must always state in which subject area and, if applicable, which specialty your competence has been assessed for, and the statement must always state whether the declaration of competence is unanimous or divided.

The expert assessment will be sent to the applicant as soon as it is available. It is not possible to appeal the experts' opinion, but you will have the opportunity to submit objections to the case processing, or comments to the experts' opinion within 2 weeks after the statement has been sent to you.

If you apply for promotion on the basis of a doctoral degree, the application will be assessed on the basis of documentation of the degree obtained and a confirmed date for submission of the thesis.

The faculty's appointments committee decides whether to award promotion or grant a transfer between the career tracks, provided that NTNU's qualification requirements for the position in question are met and that the declaration of competence is unanimous.

NTNU guidelines and National regulations

• NTNU's guidelines for academic positions (2025)
• NTNU's guidelines on documentation of educational competence (2025)
• NTNU's competence matrix (2025)
• NTNU's guidance on responsible assessment of research (2025)
• Universities and University Colleges Act (2024)
• The Norwegian Civil Service Handbook (2025 edition, in Norwegian only)
• NTNU's guideline for expert committees (2025)

Universities Norway (UHR) guides and competence matrixes (in Norwegian)

• The Norwegian Association of Higher Education Institutions' guidelines for promotion schemes (uhr.no) with links to guidelines from the strategic unit of Universities Norway.
• National assessment committees for promotion to professor in science and technology:
  • UHR guide «Samordning av prosessene for professoropprykk innen MNT-fagene (pdf)» (guide as to the assessment of qualifications requirements)
  • UHR MNT – «Søknadsmal for professoropprykk (pdf)» (guide as to how the applicant may structure the application)
• UHR NOR-CAM – Guide for assessment in academic careers
• UHR provides guidelines on the assessment of competence when applying for appointment and promotion to “førstelektor” and “dosent” (2025), including a competence matrix adapted to the career track
• UHR KU-CAM – Guide for Assessment of Academic Careers in Performing and Creative Arts (2025), including a competence matrix adapted to this career track

Faculty guidelines and contact persons